Microsoft’s Bing Search Engine Blocked In China

The Financial Times reported that search engine Bing from Microsoft is the latest technology service of America to be blocked in China. We don’t know when it started, but at some point today, mainland China’s users complained that they can no longer access cn.bing.com. However, for those who stay outside the country, the website is still accessible. According to an anonymous source, China Unicom, a state-owned telecom has verified that this is a government order. However, the cause behind the ban is still unknown.

Microsoft provided a statement followed the situation:

It is not exactly unusual for a Western website being blocked by the increasingly restrictive internet law set by the Chinese government. Back in September, Twitch was banned. For Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, they have all been inaccessible for years. There are two reasons as to why a search engine is banned in China. Despite fierce competition with other government-connected services, Bing from Microsoft belonged to the group of a few US services that are still available. Of course, one of the reasons for Bing’s survival was the willingness of Microsoft to abide by the censorship policies of the Chinese government. However, after today, even that cannot guarantee a foreign service can stay in China.

Another noteworthy reason is Google’s Dragonfly project which receives much criticism. Up until 2010, Google has still operated in China. After that, the company decided to get out of the country to express its opposition against policies on information access and free speech.

After Google’s leave, with its control over 70% of the market, Baidu, a state-controlled search service become the leading search provider of the country. Whereas, Bing owned only 2%. The China market is being eyed by Google as a potential for growth opportunity. Last month, Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai in his hearing with Congress still insisted that the company’s plans for China are yet being explored. As a result of Google staff’s opposition against the Dragonfly project, the company decided to shut down 265.com, which connected to Baidu and was used for Chinese users’ data collecting.

Now Bing’s gone, and the reason for its absence still remains unclear, it is difficult to predict whether Google would be lucky with China’s increasingly restrictive internet laws.